I don't know…this chapter seems to go by a little fast to me. But I like it anyway.
Virus
Continued
9. Chrysalis
From the moment the organism had entered Wufei's body, it had been slowly taking over his mind by reducing it to its most primitive form. This way, it could have complete control over his body with little to no resistance. However, Quatre's actions had caused this plan to backfire and in turn, the plan had caused Quatre's actions to backfire also. Wufei's mind was now harder to suppress and in a way not a mind at all. He was essentially a wild animal. And he was doing everything he could to show it.
"Quatre!" Trowa dove on Wufei. He was thrown to the side but it didn't matter; the damage had been done. Quatre stared at his bleeding arm in shock. He knew that there was poison coursing through his body now. He could already feel it. Wufei turned on Heero. Roaring with a feral anger he lunged at the Wing pilot, determined to bring his life to an end. Heero allowed himself to be pushed to his back, intending to use Wufei's momentum against him but he landed inside of something. He watched as Wufei struck again and again, trying to tear his throat out and not realizing that there was a barrier in between them. Wufei's fangs caught on something. He thrashed angrily for a moment, attempting to get loose. Finally he calmed down enough to refocus his eyes. Once he did, he was able to see the metal bars of the cage Heero had unwittingly crammed himself into. He was on top of it and it was tipped onto its back so that he was sitting on its door. Heero stared up at him suspiciously as he freed himself and settled back on his haunches.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Wufei's voiced echoed inside Heero's head. Duo, who had snuck up behind Wufei, was sprawled out on the floor in a split second. Wufei licked Duo's blood off of his hand and grinned. Poison-laden saliva dripped from his teeth.
"It seems you have trapped yourself, Heero." Heero glanced about himself. Wufei was right; he was in a cramped cage without even enough room for him to pull his gun out. He flattened himself against the back of the cage as Wufei leaned forward and sniffed the air inside of it. Every nerve in his body tingled as his mind registered the scent of fear.
"You're afraid…I can't believe it. The Perfect Soldier is afraid…" Heero's eyes widened slightly. Wufei hooked his claws in the meshing. The smile faded from his face.
"Do you know what fear does to me, Heero?" he asked in an almost drunken tone. "Fear makes me want to kill…" Wufei's fingers tensed and squeezed together. The metal bent easily. "I – want – to – kill – you, Heero." Heero kicked out as hard as he could, breaking the cage door in the process. Wufei had jumped off as soon as he had moved, seemingly predicting his actions. He now held Heero's legs. Before he could do anything else, Heero was dragged from the cage and pinned to the floor. Immediately Wufei began mauling him once more. Grunting with effort, he fought against the abnormally strong Wufei and managed to raise his upper body away from him. Wufei's laughter reverberated through his mind.
"Look at the pitiful human fighting for its life! Fight all you want, Heero. I will kill you." He started to laugh again but was silenced suddenly. A choking noise escaped his throat followed by a strange gurgle. He stared straight ahead with wide eyes and a slack jaw. Heero could barely make out some sort of liquid oozing from his mouth. He felt Wufei's grip on him relaxing and he looked down to see why. Even in the dark the blood covered point of a sword could be seen protruding from Wufei's stomach. He had been stabbed with his own sword; a treacherous act indeed. His eyes rolled back and he fell onto his side revealing the bruised and shocked face of Quatre.
"It was just laying there…I had to…" he panted. "I had to…" Heero picked himself up off of the floor and walked over to Quatre as he sank to his knees.
"Let me see your arm." he ordered. Quatre squeezed his bleeding appendage but lifted it after a moment so that Heero could examine it. Quatre slowly raised his head to glance at Wufei. His eyes widened.
"This looks bad…you'll need a bandage." Heero said finally. He looked down at Quatre. Quatre's eyes were growing by the second.
"What?" Heero leaned into Quatre's line of vision. "Quatre?" As Quatre's mouth dropped open Heero turned around to see what he was staring at. He was met by an unbelievable sight. Wufei was standing a few feet away, balling and unballing his fists, oblivious to the way his claws tore into his own flesh. The sword was still fixed into his abdomen. A dangerously low growl shook his body.
"That…hurt…" his voice hissed into their minds. He reached behind himself and yanked the blade out of his body. The wound healed instantly. Wufei advanced on them, and threw his sword off to the side. It clanged loudly against the floor then slid to a stop next to Duo. 'Whoa!' Duo thought. 'He must really be out of it if he threw away his sword!' He dragged his body into a sitting position to get a better view of what was happening. On the other side of the room he saw Trowa using the wall to steady himself. Heero drew his gun quickly and held it out in front of him but he already knew that it wouldn't do him much good. Wufei stopped. His eyes widened.
"Shoot me!" Heero blinked in both surprise and confusion at Wufei's words. 'What does he mean shoot him? It must be a trick…reverse psychology…' He held his gun steadily.
"Shoot me! Shoot me now!" Heero hesitated, not sure of the consequences of taking that course of action. Quatre sensed that he was going to shoot. He pushed Heero's arm as he pulled the trigger, fouling the shot. Wufei narrowed his eyes and hissed at Quatre.
"You fool!" He dropped to one knee. Everyone watched as he doubled over in pain then threw up. The dark puddle of slime spread under him. His stomach muscles contracted again, expelling more of the fluid on the floor. He collapsed into the puddle. The other pilots exchanged confused glances. A vine shot up from the puddle and latched onto the ceiling. Then another one did the same. It was followed by another vine…which was followed by even more vines until somewhat of a cage had formed around Wufei.
"What's happening?" Quatre asked. The puddle solidified partially and started to rise. It was being pulled up by the vines and Wufei was going up with it. Heero narrowed his eyes in thought.
"A cocoon…" he said after a moment. "He's…making a cocoon…" Quatre jumped in shock.
"We have to stop it! We can't let him finish transforming!" Before Heero could stop him, Quatre had rushed forward and grabbed Wufei's wrist. He paid no attention to the stinging pain in his arm as he pulled Wufei, trying to remove him from the forming chrysalis. Seeing that Quatre wasn't succeeding, Trowa ran to him and grabbed him in an effort to help. Quatre's feet were lifted off of the floor.
"Hang on! I'm coming!" Duo called. He struggled to his feet and quickly joined the growing line. Heero followed suit a bit reluctantly but knowing that Wufei's transformation could not be allowed to complete itself. The four boys pulled on Wufei in a tug of war fashion. More and more vines formed and started to wrap themselves around Wufei's body until a sort of pod had formed. Only his arm remained exposed. The pod rose steadily higher until Trowa was on the verge of being lifted into the air also. Just as Quatre's hand started to slip, Wufei's hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. At first Quatre thought Wufei might be trying to pull him into the pod so he could kill him but he didn't feel any resistance. The only tension in Wufei's arm was that of the muscles he was using to hold onto Quatre. After a while his claws started to cut into Quatre's skin but Quatre ignored it and held on.
"You have to pull harder!" he called over his shoulder. A slender vine snaked down Wufei's arm and to Quatre's arms. Its icy surface began numbing his arms immediately. Quatre fought to hold on. He noticed Wufei's grip weakening.
"No, don't give up! Hold on, Wufei!" Quatre whispered. "Don't you let go!" Wufei's fingers loosened and finally let go. His hand fell limp. Quatre lost his grip on Wufei and fell to the floor bringing all the other pilots down with him. He watched helplessly as Wufei's hand was pulled into the pod to be transformed just like the rest of his body. Inside the pod, Wufei was flipped onto his back. He could feel liquid rising around him.
"I…have to…get out…" he mumbled. Mustering up the last of his strength, he took a swipe at the side of the pod. His claws passed through the slimy substance as if it wasn't even there. The liquid splashed over his face as he let his hand fall, having spent all the energy that hadn't been taken from him. Delirium crept into his mind in the form of a sweet aroma and he tried to call out to the other pilots. The only things that came out of his mouth were animalistic grunts and noises. His eyes closed briefly as the liquid rose above his head. He found he could still breathe but only through his nose. When he opened his eyes he didn't see the nightmare around him. His vision was filled with a beautiful white light and he could barely make out a figure in the center of it. The dark haired girl reached out to him slowly. Her ponytails swayed gently in the wind.
"Wufei…" she said. Her voice was faint but he could hear the love it carried. "Wufei…"
"Wufei!" Quatre called. "Wufei!" Duo put a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't think he can hear you, buddy." Quatre shrugged Duo's hand off of him.
"You have to get out of there, Wufei! Can you hear me?! WUFEI!" Quatre's vision blurred. "Wu…fei…" He felt nothing as he hit the floor. The room spun for a moment then he was engulfed in darkness. Wufei smiled slightly at the vision the organism had created to calm him during the transformation. He allowed his eyelids to close in a slumber that would forever change his life. For when he emerged from that slumber, he would truly no longer be the human that he had been. He would be something great, something unstoppable; something deadly.
***
Quatre blinked his eyes open. Everything was dark. He wondered for a moment if he had indeed opened his eyes. Then his pupils dilated and he could see somewhat better. Trowa's calm face entered his vision.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Can you hear me?" Quatre nodded. Trowa looked as though he might say something else but Duo pushed his way in and cut him off.
"I tried to suck it out but I was too late. I'm sorry, Quatre." Quatre nodded a second time. He had already known that it was too late to remove the poison. The only hope for him now was an antidote. In the movies there was always an antidote, always some way to keep the character from dying. But this was real life and the real fact was that there wasn't an antidote. And he was going to die. He laughed in spite of himself. His biggest fear was that he would die on the battle field before they won, that he would never see what he was fighting for come true. Now he was going to die and not even fighting for what he believed in. His only consolation, if any, was that he would die helping a friend.
"What did you try to suck out?" Heero asked. Duo turned to him.
"Poison…he's been poisoned…" was Duo's short reply. Heero was silent a moment.
"What poisoned him?" Duo blinked in confusion.
"You don't know?" Heero shook his head.
"Wufei's..." he hesitated, not sure how to continue. Then seeing there was no reason to beat around the bush he said, "Poisonous…"
"That's impossible."
"Hey, the fact that Wufei just made a cocoon is impossible but it happened, didn't it?!" Heero couldn't come up with a good argument so he remained silent. A heavy quiet settled over the room. Finally Quatre could take it no longer.
"What will we do now?" he asked the open air. "What can we do?"
"What's gonna happen when that cocoon opens?" Duo inquired. There was another long silence. After a while, Heero spoke up.
"His DNA is already altered. The cells with the new DNA have to spread and the ones with the old DNA have to die out in order for the transformation to be complete. When he exits the cocoon that's what will have happened." Quatre propped himself up on one elbow.
"But if that's true, that means…there won't be any old DNA to replace the new DNA…" he stated, his voice barely above a whisper.
"But…but that means…even if we get the organism out of him…" Duo's voice trailed off. Heero finished for him.
"Even if we get it out, he won't return to normal."
"Yes, that will happen – unless we can get some of his old DNA." Trowa said.
"Where are we supposed to get that? Last I heard nobody took any blood samples from Wufei. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. J had some lyin' around somewhere…" The other three pilots looked over at Duo.
"What did you just say?" Quatre asked.
"Well, at first I asked if -."
"No, what was the last part?"
"I said I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. J had some of Wufei's old blood lyin' around somewhere. Who knows? I mean, he had a cow, there's no telling what else he's got here -."
"Heero, is there anywhere in this building that Dr. J might be keeping blood?" Heero nodded.
"There's a whole cold storage section in the fourth floor basement of the southeast wing. He keeps blood, tissue samples and other things frozen down there."
"Well…where are we right now?" Heero paused a moment to try to figure out their location.
"Our current position is in a secondary chemical laboratory on the second floor basement of the northwest wing."
"So how far is it from here to there?" Heero paused again.
"If we could walk a straight line, it would be approximately two hundred yards."
"Well, that's not so far…"
"But he said that's if we could walk in a straight line which must mean we can't." Duo pointed out.
"What's the fastest route to that area?" Trowa asked. Heero thought for a moment then got up and started opening and closing drawers and cabinets.
"What are you looking for?" Quatre inquired. Heero walked to a table in the center of the room with a long, rolled up piece of paper.
"This…they're blueprints of the building. We can map a route to the cold storage area with them." he replied as he spread the paper over the table. Quatre sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the table he had been lying on. He winced and withdrew his arm as he tried to push off. It was his right arm that had been bitten, the arm he had lifted to defend himself against Wufei's attack since it was the stronger of the two. It had already begun to swell but the swelling had not reached his elbow or spread to his hand – yet… Trowa helped him to the table with the blueprints on it and the four boys plotted a course. When they had finished, they made preparations to set off. They equipped themselves with fresh flashlights, a first aid kit and a few army rations with a lighter and matches. At last they were ready to go. Duo voiced a question that had been bothering him for some time.
"What if Wufei's blood isn't there?" The other pilots glared at him. "Sorry…but we have to consider that. And besides, even if Wufei's blood is over there, we'd still have to get that thing out of him before we could use it."
"He's right…we still don't have a way to get the organism out of his body." Quatre said.
"Wufei…or that thing said that Dr. J's only been lookin' at ways to keep it in Wufei's body so I doubt that there's even a beginning of something that would get it out." Heero shook his head at Duo's comment.
"Dr. J isn't careless. He would consider the possibility of him needing to remove the organism so he would've at least started to create a serum for that…but…"
"But what?" Quatre prodded.
"He thought we were dealing with a virus. It would take different and much stronger antibodies to combat a multi-cellular organism. It would actually take some kind of…poison."
"So now we don't have to make a whole new serum to fight the organism. We just need the right poison." Trowa pointed out.
"Yeah, that's good, isn't it? It sounds a lot easier…"
"We don't have time to experiment and find out what poisons it's susceptible to."
"That's not important right now." Quatre broke in. "Right now we just need to get that blood sample." He started to take a step forward but his legs gave out on him. Trowa caught him before he hit the floor.
"I…I guess I'm still a little dizzy…"
"Don't take this personally Quatre but we'll never get anywhere if you keep falling like that." Duo said.
"Well…what are you going to do, carry me?" Quatre chuckled lightly and tried to stand up again.
"That's exactly what we'll do." Heero said. Everyone's attention turned to him. Heero walked over to a large cabinet and pulled out a strange looking backpack. He yanked the sack out and tossed it to the side, bringing only the straps and frame back with him.
"What's that thing?" Quatre asked.
"It's a harness. We'll use it to hold you to our backs one at a time. Get in." He helped Quatre slide into the straps and simple metal frame.
"I'll take him first." Trowa volunteered. When at last Quatre had been strapped to Trowa's back, he shivered.
"I'm cold…" he mumbled.
"Maybe it's the poison." Duo suggested. Heero shook his head.
"The temperature has dropped severely."
"I wonder what's causing it." Duo turned around as Quatre spoke. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Well I don't know but…is there any chance it could be…that?" The others turned to look at what Duo was looking at. The area of the ceiling around the central vine of the cocoon was covered in frost and the frost was spreading to the walls quickly. Despite this, thick drops of slime were still dripping from the pod.
"How could it be so cold and not freeze?" Quatre wondered aloud. No one knew the answer to his question.
"Dr. J estimated that the transformation would be complete at ten. Quatre, set your watch alarm for ten." Quatre tore his eyes away from the cocoon to follow Heero's instructions. He glanced down at his watch and felt his stomach sink.
"Oh, I don't think there's any reason for that." he murmured.
"Why not?"
"Because it's ten o clock right now." A strange crunching sound made everyone whip back around to look at the cocoon. What they saw was the last thing they wanted to see at that moment; the pod was opening.
*Bum, bum, BUM! Oh no! How will the boys make it to the other side of the lab with Wufei chasing them? And what does Wufei look like now? And what's so important about the ceiling freezing? Tune in next time to find out! And don't forget to review – if you can. Hey, are you starting to get some of those 4+5 vibes? (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)*